Foreign Policy in Transition? Human Rights, Democracy, and U.S. Arms Exports

During the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy was dominated by the strategic goal to contain Communism. Human rights and democracy were of secondary importance. In the post-Cold War period, the promotion of human rights and democracy as foreign policy concerns rose in prominence. In the spirit of Andrew Pierre, who once characterized arms transfers as "foreign policy writ large ," this study questions whether the transfer of U.S. arms mirrors America's foreign policy goals. To what extent do U.S. arms transfers reflect a concern for human rights and democracy? As a foreign policy instrument, do U.S. arms transfer patterns mark a transition between Cold War and post-Cold War worlds? To address these questions, I examine the empirical linkage between U.S. foreign policy goals and arms export agreements with developing countries for the years 1981–2002. I use a two-stage model to evaluate the decision-making process. The first-stage addresses whether a country is eligible to receive U.S. arms. If a country successfully passes through the selection stage, it progresses to the second stage where a decision is made about the amount of arms transferred. I use a Heckman model to estimate empirically the determinants of arms at both the initial selection stage and the subsequent amount stage. The findings indicate that during the Cold War years, human rights were not a significant determinant of arms transfers—although democracy was positively linked to U.S. arms in the selection stage. In the post-Cold War period, both human rights and democracy had a meaningful impact in determining the eligibility of a country to receive arms.     

Coparent Support and Conflict in African American Single Mother-Headed Families: Associations With Maternal and Child Psychosocial Functioning

This longitudinal investigation examined main and interactive effects of coparent support and conflict on mother and child adjustment in 248 low-income, African American, single mother-headed families. The findings indicated that coparent conflict was a more robust predictor of mother and child maladjustment both cross-sectionally and longitudinally than was coparent support. Moreover, findings revealed that coparent conflict and support interacted to predict one parenting behavior, monitoring, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Coparent relationships characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict were associated with the highest levels of parental monitoring behavior, whereas coparent relationships characterized by low levels of support and high levels of conflict were associated with the lowest levels of monitoring. The findings highlight the importance of examining both positive and negative aspects of coparent relationships in this at-risk, but understudied, group.     

Partner stalking and implications for women's employment

In general research suggests partner violence has a negative impact on women's employment. However, there has been limited examination of partner stalking and consequences for employment. The purpose of this study was to examine partner stalking and employment consequences among two samples of women. One sample was women who had obtained a protective order against a violent partner and had worked in the prior year (n = 482), about one half of these women were stalked by their violent partner and one half were not. The second study examined qualitative information from women recently stalked (n = 62) by a violent partner. Results from both studies suggest that women who were stalked by a violent partner were significantly more susceptible to on-the-job harassment and problems. Also, women reported that stalking by a partner interfered in their work through on-the-job harassment, work disruption, and job performance problems. Implications for policy and research are discussed.     

Coparenting Conflict and Parenting Behavior in Economically Disadvantaged Single Parent African American Families: The Role of Maternal Psychological Distress

Substantial research has focused on the negative associations between coparenting conflict, parental psychological functioning, and parenting behavior in European American, middle-income, families. However, less attention has been given to ethnic minority families and to families that are nontraditionally structured. In an effort to address this gap, the current longitudinal study examines the relation between conflict with the mother-identified primary co-caregiver and parenting practices in single parent, economically disadvantaged African American families. Participants included 234 mother–child dyads. It was hypothesized that conflict would relate to less utilization of positive parenting practices and that this association would be mediated, at least in part, by maternal psychological distress. Hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling (Lisrel 8.3): Conflict with a co-caregiver was significantly related to parenting both directly and indirectly through maternal psychological distress. Implications of the findings are discussed.

School-Based Group Interventions for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Children exposed to the trauma of domestic violence tend to experience difficulties with internalized and externalized behavior problems, social skills deficits, and academic functioning. Mental health practitioners in the school setting, including school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers, can address developmental concerns that impede development through group counseling interventions that include both structured activities and play therapy. The school environment offers an ideal setting in which to work with child survivors of trauma, as all students have accessibility to school mental health resources. This article outlines the primary objectives and corresponding procedures for a developmentally- appropriate group interventions for elementary-aged children who have been exposed to the trauma of domestic violence.     

DACA legal services: One federal policy,different local implementation approaches

In the United States, the absence of federal funding and coordination for immigration legal services often means that local resources determine immigrants' access to justice. Many of these resources go toward supporting immigrants caught in the detention and deportation system. Yet local support is also critical for implementing federal benefits programs such as the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In this article, we draw on 146 interviews with representatives of legal services providers and their nonprofit collaborators in three immigrant-dense metropolitan areas—the Greater Houston Area, the New York City Metro Area, and the San Francisco Bay Area—to analyze the distinct, place-specific service and collaboration models that have emerged over the last decade to meet demand for DACA implementation support. Specifically, we examine how local context shapes the types of actors that immigrants can turn to for immigration legal services, and how they have coordinated on the ground in distinct ways during a time of increasing uncertainty.     

Managing from the Middle: Frontline Supervisors and Perceptions of Their Organizational Power

Frontline supervisors serve in a critical role, maintaining relationships between upper management and frontline workers; however, we still know relatively little about how subordinates view their power in relation to their supervisors and how frontline supervisors understand and exercise their own power. Focusing on street‐level workers and frontline supervisors across a statewide community corrections agency, we explore perceptions, experiences, and assertions of power in the workplace. Using focus groups with thirty‐two street‐level probation and parole officers and focus groups and field observations of seventy‐five frontline supervisors, we find that officers and frontline supervisors have widely differing views on the power of the frontline supervisory position, some of which are influenced by gender. While street‐level workers align frontline supervisors with policy creators, frontline supervisors view themselves as disempowered go‐betweens. Frontline supervisors compensate for their perceived lack of power in policymaking and implementation by using micropower strategies to assert their power. This study extends street‐level bureaucrat theory to the role of frontline supervisors, who in practice are distant from the upper management roles with which they are typically categorized.